In retail establishments, one of the problems with handling documents, such as checks, presented for payment at the point of sale receipt printer, is the need to reverse the face orientation of the check, and then re-introduce the check into the machine. In this context, the word "check" is meant to include, but not be limited to personal checks, payroll checks, business negotiable notes and European financial documents. The re-introduction step is performed for printing the amount of sale and possibly other information (bank codes, account numbers, etc.) on the check itself. This added step is wasteful of time and inconvenient for the operator. The present invention suggests that it is more useful, when printing MICR indicia on documents such as checks, for example, to accomplish this procedure in one presenting operation. In other words, it would be more convenient to present the check to the receipt printer only one time.
The present invention seeks to provide a new method and apparatus for processing checks at the point of sale, wherein each check need be introduced into the machine only once. In other words, this invention provides a mechanism that automatically reverses the face orientation of the check inside the machine. This allows for (1) reading account information on the check, while the front face of the check is downwardly oriented and facing the read head, (2) flipping the check over, and (3) printing the amount upon the check, while the front face of the check is upwardly oriented and in line with the internal printer.
It should be understood that the orientation of the check is dependent upon the positioning of the read head and printing mechanism. In other words, should the printer be located below the read head along the check processing path, then the front face of the check can be presented to the receipt printer with a face-up orientation. In such a case, the check face faces downwardly during printing.
This invention allows a retailer to save money and time in one or both of two ways:
(a) Having the POS printer of this invention, a retailer can read, verify and print characters in one operation. This saves the retailer money and time. PA1 (b) Retailers having this POS printer need not purchase an encoding machine to encode the checks. Neither do they need to encode the checks as a separate task at a later time than that of the point of sale. The retailer having the POS printer of this invention saves the time and labor in performing this task at the point of sale, and not as a separate function performed at a later time.
It has been found that another concern is losing track of the check in the machine, during processing. This can be disconcerting to both retailer-operators and their customers. This lack of control, coupled with difficulty removing paper jams, when they occur, heretofore has made it almost impossible to produce and successfully sell check flipping apparatus in a POS printer. Previous apparatus, for example, have required the user to dismantle part of the machine, removing selected components thereof, in order to clear a paper jam.